Iraq, UN extend oil for food

Iraq says it may resume oil exports within two days, following an agreement with the UN to extend the oil for food programme.

The Iraqi Ambassador to the UN, Mohamed al-Douri said oil would flow soon, perhaps as early as Tuesday.

Baghdad stopped exports more than a month ago in protest at a joint British and US proposal to revise the economic sanctions, which were imposed following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

That plan was dropped last week after Russia said it would veto it in the UN Security Council.

The proposals aimed to ease restrictions on civilian goods while tightening them on arms. The oil-for-food-programme allows Iraq to sell oil and use the funds to buy food and medicine.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service